By IANS,
Bogota : At least eight rebels of Colombia’s largest insurgency group were killed Monday in separate clashes with government troops, Spain’s EFE news agency reported.
Four rebels belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were killed in a clash with security forces near Palmira city of Valle province. A senior FARC leader was among the dead, the army said.
Fighting also broke out near the Florida town of the province. One rebel was killed in the attack.
Two guerrillas of FARC’s 36th Front were killed near Yarumal town in Colombia’s northwestern province of Antioquia and one rebel was killed in Narino area of the province.
Huge cache of arms, ammunition and communication equipments were seized from the rebels by the army.
The FARC is Colombia’s largest leftist guerrilla group and was founded in 1964. The group has an estimated 17,000 fighters.
President Alvaro Uribe’s administration has made fighting the FARC a top priority.
The US and the European Union have designated the FARC as a foreign terrorist organisation.